Rationale for the appointment of Sam Ervin to the Senate

Rankin discusses Governor Umstead's decision to appoint Sam Ervin to fill the vacant United States Senate seat from North Carolina in 1954. Ervin's appointment came just after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the <cite>Brown</cite> decision and Rankin addresses the question of whether or not that even influenced Umstead's decision. When asked if another prominent North Carolina Democrat, Irving Carlyle, might have been selected had he not publicly stated that North Carolina would abide by the law, rather than waiting to see what the public stance of the party would be to the decision, Rankin contends that Umstead carefully selected Ervin and that such "political infighting" did not play a role in the decision.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Edward L. Rankin, August 20, 1987. Interview C-0044. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

JAY JENKINS:

I want to take you back, if I may, to May of 1954. That was when the
desegregation decision was issued by the U. S. Supreme Court. Governor
Umstead had not formulated any response and so forth. He expressed
disappointment. One of the, I don't know whether you would
call it a legend or not - Irving Carlyle of Winston Salem, who
was a close friend of the governor's, spoke to
the state Democratic Convention which was held a few days
after the decision had come down and not long after Governor Hoey had
died in office as a U.S. Senator in Washington. In his speech Irving
Carlyle put in a paragraph that said, "This is the law of the
land. We must obey it," and so forth and so on. Umstead had not
at this time made any official response or taken a position and so on.
We newspaper people speculated, had been speculating, if Carlyle was a
strong candidate to succeed Hoey. After he made that speech, the
governor nominated Sam Ervin. Do you have any personal knowledge of
whether that really knocked Irving Carlyle out of the Senate
nomination?
EDWARD L. RANKIN, Jr.:
In my opinion, it did not. As a matter of fact, I don't think
Irving Carlyle would have been selected.

JAY JENKINS:

You don't.
EDWARD L. RANKIN, Jr.:
I do not. I do not think that, you know, based on my best recollection
after so many years. We had a few deaths while I was there, as a matter
of fact, so I went through this senatorial appointment procedure several
times with the governor. I learned a few things out of this. A
senatorial appointment is more than politics. It really is. Politics is
a major component of that decision but an appointment to the U.S. Senate
by a governor is about as important a decision as a governor will ever
make. He is keenly aware of not only the immediate facts involved, [but
also of] the future, the fact that his place in history is on the line.
It's just different from anything else I've ever
been through, appointments of judges, or to the Supreme Court.
There's an intensity of feeling about this among
the people, his supporters, the organization, the party.
It's agonizing. It's absolutely agonizing. I do
not think Irving Carlyle would have been a top level candidate for this
to start with. So I don't think he knocked himself out of it.
I don't think he was ever in.

JAY JENKINS:

Well, that's very interesting.
EDWARD L. RANKIN, Jr.:
Now, Mr. Umstead, another interesting thing about him, he kept his own
counsel as well as any man I've ever seen. I mean with me he
was as candid as anybody could be but also he didn't, in
things like this, he didn't speculate about them. He
didn't talk about such decisions before they were made.
There's another thing about Mr. Umstead, unlike any other
governor I've ever seen, Mr. Umstead had more close personal
friends scattered over North Carolina than any governor I've
ever worked for. Much of this went back to his days at Chapel Hill. His
class at Chapel Hill were made up of a rather remarkable group of men.
They all went back to their home towns, but they stayed in touch. Many
of them were in World War I. Many of them were in the American Legion
together. Many of them were big democratic workers. They stayed in
touch. They would go to the reunions in Chapel Hill. So I could call any
one of these persons - one I think of is Jim Hardison from
Wadesboro, for example - I could call him at four
o'clock in the morning, and I'd say, "The
governor, William Umstead, asked me to do this." [And
they'd say] "What does he want done?" I
mean like that. There was a bond of personal friendship that meant a
great deal to these men and to Mr. Umstead. He would talk to these
people, individually, about whatever, and
they'd advise him. Of course, he was very open and
he'd listen to anybody but he kept his own counsel until he
made a decision.
It's funny you bring this up because I told Sam Ervin this
story three weeks before he died. Hugh Morton and I went to interview
him and got a tape. Bless his heart, when we first got there, I
didn't think he'd be able to talk because he had
terrible emphysema. But he got interested in talking to us and suddenly
he was breathing better. We had an interview of about an hour. But I
told him this story. When the governor was near a decision, and we knew
it was close, Mr. Umstead buzzed me and said, "Get Sam Ervin
for me on the telephone. I want to talk just to him
personally." I called Ervin's law office or wherever
he was. It was Morganton, I think. I got him on the phone.

JAY JENKINS:

The Supreme Court.
EDWARD L. RANKIN, Jr.:
Yeah, the Supreme Court but I think he was not in Raleigh. He was in
Morganton. He was at his home, I think, or maybe in his law office. I
don't remember. Anyway, I said, "Sam, Governor
Umstead wants to speak with you. Will you hold on, please?" I
put him on hold. I walked in the office, and I picked up the phone for
Mr. Umstead. Mr. Umstead said, "Sam, (or words to this effect)
Sam, I've been thinking about this a long time. I want to
appoint you to the United States Senate." That was it. They
talked about how the announcement would be made. It was a big, big day.
I think Sam Ervin was the type of person that Mr. Umstead was looking
for. Sam Ervin and William Umstead were close personal friends. They
both were World War I buddies. They had been
through a lot of the same experiences together. Plus the fact,
obviously, Sam Ervin was qualified. Of course that appointment, unlike
some of the others, stuck. Ervin stayed until he was ready to
retire.